The Regina Pats may not have said it at the time, but they heard the whispers.

When they were a .500 team at the Christmas break, the Pats heard people suggest they didn’t deserve to be the host team at the 2018 Memorial Cup.

When they were eliminated in the first round of the WHL playoffs, the Pats heard people say they wouldn’t recover from a 45-day hiatus to compete with the best teams in the country.

Even when they earned a spot in Friday’s Memorial Cup semi-final, the Pats heard people say there was no chance they could beat the OHL-champion Hamilton Bulldogs twice in the same tournament.

Guess what? They did.

Thanks to a rousing 4-2 win over Hamilton on Friday night, the Pats didn’t just punch their ticket to Sunday’s championship final against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, they likely silenced a few doubters in the process.

“Stuff like that just adds fuel to the fire for us,” said goaltender Max Paddock, who stopped 44 shots in the victory. “We read that stuff just to try to pump our tires. We don’t need it — we get up enough for the Memorial Cup — but it just adds to the fire. That’s what we’re trying to do is win a Memorial Cup and trying to prove to people we deserve to be here.”

They’re doing a pretty good job of it, too.

With Friday’s win, the Pats advanced to the Memorial Cup final for the first time since they won it in 1974.

Another win on Sunday would earn them a place among the immortals of an iconic franchise that’s mired in a 43-year championship drought. Even if they don’t win on Sunday, the Pats have still earned the right to say ‘I told you so’ to the people who claimed they would never get this far.

“We took that as motivation,” offered forward Cameron Helbig, “and kind of shoved it back in their face.”

Regina did the same thing to the Bulldogs, who had been vocal in stating that they played “by far” their worst game of the tournament in an early 3-2 loss to the host team.

However, the narrative changed after Friday’s loss.

Not only were the OHL champions generally humble in defeat, they were quick to give credit where it was due.

“We’re not upset with (the players) and I think they get that part of it,” said an emotional head coach John Gruden. “If we played our game, (they thought) we were good enough to win this tournament. But all the credit goes to the Regina team. They earned it. They did the little things right.

“It was a tough, good game.”

Bulldogs defenceman Riley Stillman set the tone just 30 seconds in when he delivered a huge open-ice hit on Hebig. The 20-year-old forward wasn’t injured but a message was sent nonetheless.

The Pats delivered one of their own five minutes later when Emil Oksanen fired a quick shot from the right circle and Austin Pratt jumped on a fat rebound, giving the home team an early 1-0 lead.

The Pats thought they had made it 2-0 just 1:11 into the second but it was ruled no-goal after video review because Oksanen directed the puck in with his skate.

Regina’s penalty killers came up big early in the second when they survived a double minor to Liam Schioler, but the celebration was short-lived. Nicolas Mattinen put Hamilton on the board 36 seconds after the penalty expired, blasting a one-timer from the point that beat Paddock through a screen.

Regina got it back 3:25 later when Josh Mahura worked his way into some open ice at the point and made a nice pass between the circles to Hebig, who drilled it past goalie Kaden Fulcher for a 2-1 lead.

It stayed that way until Fulcher made a fatal error with 5:55 left in the third.

The veteran netminder came out to play the puck at the bottom of the left circle but he was intercepted by Sam Steel. The Pats captain was initially cut off but he weaved his way from right to left until a shooting lane opened up, scoring into the empty net as defenders sprawled to get in front of him.

The Bulldogs complained that Regina’s Nick Henry interfered with Fulcher and prevented him from getting back to his net, but Gruden didn’t make an issue of it after the game.

“(The) refs did a great job tonight,” he said. “Things happen sometimes. I always said the hockey gods, when teams do the little things, they sometimes seem to find ways to win games. There’s no regrets on anything.”

Pats fans had already started to celebrate when Will Bitten got behind Regina’s defence and went in alone, firing upstairs on Paddock to make it a one-goal game with 4:42 left.

Fulcher was pulled for an extra attacker but Regina held off a desperate surge by the Bulldogs, who had numerous chances to tie it before Jake Leschyshyn scored into an empty net with 5.2 seconds left.

“When it comes down to it, we ran into a hot goalie,” said Stillman. “We couldn’t buy the back of the net.”

Hamilton outshot Regina 46-24, including 22-5 in the third period when the home team was just trying to kill the clock. Their defensive posture almost backfired, but Paddock made it stand up with a first-star effort.

“That was definitely the best game of my life … especially on a stage like that,” said Paddock, who also gave a nod to his fearless defenders. “I’ve seen us play with a lot of desperation but not quite like that. We really wanted to win. We didn’t want our season to end today.”

Instead, the Bulldogs will pack their bags and head home while the Pats gear up for one more game in front of their championship-starved fans.

Friday’s announced attendance of 6,484 was the second consecutive sellout after the first five games of the tournament came up short.

The impact of the seventh man wasn’t lost on the Bulldogs, who had to battle the Pats as well as a raucous crowd.

“It’s their home rink, their crowd; that’s obviously a big boost,” said Bitten. “They played hard. I have to give them credit. Good luck to them in the final.”

NOTES: Oksanen’s second-period goal would have counted in the WHL due to a rule change that allows players to score with a kicking motion outside the blue paint. However, the Memorial Cup is governed by a CHL/NHL rulebook that mirrors the OHL and QMJHL, where a player can’t direct the puck in with his skate.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.